A-G told to get instructions on plea for using new stands at stadium

The Madras High Court on Wednesday directed the Advocate-General to get instructions on a plea by the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association to permit it to use three newly constructed stands at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium at Chepauk here for the semi-final and final matches of the IPL scheduled for May 25 and 27.

The petitioner's senior counsel, P.S. Raman, told a vacation Bench of Justices V. Dhanapalan and B. Rajendran that the TNCA had no differences of opinion with the government.

It was thankful to the Chief Minister and the government for clearing the proposal, which had been pending hitherto.

The Chennai Corporation affixed the seal on the three stands in August last year when the sealing of buildings at T. Nagar was on. But the association, being a public institution, did not want to file a writ petition against the sealing until the government decided on the issue.

Now, a letter dated May 16 had been issued accepting the recommendations of the multi-storied buildings and the government had directed the CMDA to proceed with the granting of planning permission. This process may take some time.

In the meantime, since the TNCA had planned to host the semi-final and finals of the IPL matches, the three stands, with a capacity of 12,500 seats, may be opened on the two days. This would enable 12,500 persons to watch the matches at reduced rates of Rs.500 and Rs.750 and fetch the government entertainment tax of nearly Rs.25 lakh.